Business run by father, son, and daughter occupies unique niche in auto sales

BREWER — Bob and Corey Sparks, co-owners of D&S Auto in Brewer, know cars from A to V — Audi to Volkswagen, that is — and everything in between. The business offers a special order service to those seeking the car of their dreams. “Seventy-five to eighty percent of our sales are special order,” Bob Sparks said. “It’s a comfortable way to buy a car and we stand behind what we sell.”

Typically, when customers come through the door at at 221 Dirigo Drive, they have certain car-buying criteria in mind: make and model, particular color, leather upholstery, sunroof, heated seats, specific number of miles, price range, and other criteria. Sparks, as a licensed and bonded automobile dealer, can then access car auction websites such as Manheim, Adesa or others, and pinpoint the availability and source — from Maine to California — of the vehicle the customer is seeking.

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“We have customers who have bought three or four cars from us,” Sparks said. “Customers know the numbers before they buy.”

Kim Grover, Sparks’ daughter, handles the front office of the business. “We’d all fall over if she wasn’t here,” Sparks said with pride in his voice.

“We’re not just about passenger cars,” Grover said. “We sell work vans, trucks, family cars, and sports vehicles.” Indeed, one current customer is in the market for a dump truck, Sparks said.

“The spectrum of vehicles we sell is very large,” Grover said. “We work with all local financial institutions and we have a relaxed atmosphere. We also service and repair all types of vehicles.”

D&S Auto was established in 2007 when Bob Sparks found himself with an empty building and a son — Corey — about to graduate from Husson College. It was then that the two teamed up to open the business. Indeed, D&S stands for dad and son, Sparks said.

Out in the service area, mechanic Chris Fisher, who has been in the trade for 20 years and comes from a mechanically inclined family, tends to vehicle service and repairs. “I turned my first wrench when I was eight,” he said; also the age when he got his first dirt bike. He stays up on the latest in repair technology by attending monthly classes, through CarQuest, at United Technologies Center in Bangor.

When women, who don’t always understand car mechanics, come to have their vehicles serviced, Grover said, Fisher takes the time to show them exactly what needs to done and why it’s necessary. “We work with multiple parts vendors to provide competitive prices and quality parts” she said.

Interior and exterior detailing services at the hands of Phil Allard also are available at D&S Auto. He can make vehicles of all kinds, boats and motorcycles sparkle and shine both inside and out, through shampooing upholstery and carpeting, cleaning and conditioning door panels, dash and console, claying to removed bug sludge and tar, polishing, hand-waxing, and buffing.

Allard is a 15-year veteran of car detailing services. People who drive their cars off after he has detailed them know they got their money’s worth, he said. He details one car per day so that each car he works on gets the attention it deserves. The goal is to make the car look as new as possible, he said.